


Pet Project

by The_Passing_Queer



Category: Leverage
Genre: Drinking, Hiding, Infidelity, M/M, Mild Smut, Morning After, Old Friends, One Shot, Overhearing Sex, Rivalry, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26685820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Passing_Queer/pseuds/The_Passing_Queer
Summary: Sophie comes back to the office late at night, expecting Nate will be there waiting for her. As it turns out, Nate is there, but he is not alone...and Sophie may overheard something she shouldn't.My small addition to Ford/Sterling shipping, which (having just watched the show) I'm shocked there isn't more of. A one-shot taking place sometime around Season 4.
Relationships: Nathan Ford/Jim Sterling, Sophie Devereaux & Nathan Ford
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Pet Project

The door swung open, and the stillness of the empty office was broken by the clack of high heels echoing off the wood-paneled walls. 

“Truly sorry, dear, I hoped not to be back so late. But the mark, you wouldn’t believe how many backroads he took on his way home. He must be hiding something truly destructive, to go to those lengths to throw off anyone trailing him. Luckily, Hardison’s little gadget made it easy to––”

Sophie had made it all the way to the kitchen at Leverage HQ before realizing that Nate wasn’t there.

She looked around the room, for any sign that Nate was in the building at all. It was late––nearly 2am, but Nate said that he’d be waiting for her, when she returned. Would he really have gone to bed before she was home?

The only hint––well, the only confirmation––that he was there was Nate’s jacket, strewn over the back of the couch in the briefing area. Sophie walked over to it, and picked it up. Her hands instinctively rifled through the pockets, making sure everything was still in its place.  _ Well, he hasn’t been pickpocketed _ , she concluded, tossing the jacket back down.

She returned to the kitchen, checking the liquor cabinets for anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed to be in order, as far as she could recall. She checked the dishes and glassware, for anything out of place or––

One of the tumblers was missing.

“Oh, Nate…” Sophie groaned. If Nate had gone back to drinking unsupervised, there was no telling what he was planning, or where he was now. She took out her phone to call, hoping under her breath that he would pick up. 

“Come on, Nate, come on…”

_ Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz. _

The phone rang in the jacket pocket. Sophie’s eyelids dropped sarcastically, chiding herself for the unconscious error. 

Her thumb was just about to hang up on the call, when she heard a stomping sound from the floor above. Heavy steps, moving in the direction of the spiral staircase. She let the call ring, and stepped into the shadows.

The first thing Sophie saw was bare feet.  _ Odd,  _ she considered.  _ He has slippers. _ But as the figure came further downstairs, Sophie saw it wasn’t only the shoes that Nate wasn’t wearing. In fact, Sophie slowly realized that Nathan Ford was descending from upstairs wearing only a towel.

_ This had better be a shower _ , she prayed, in her mind.

Nate descended the staircase haphazardly, as though he wasn’t fully cognizant of his surroundings. His hands reached out for the railing, gripping it roughly, as the buzz of the phone echoed through the office. He finally reached solid ground, steadied himself, and hobbled over to the jacket. He pulled the phone out, and Sophie watched as his body language changed, realizing who the call was from. Though his back was turned, she saw his shoulder drop, the tension leaving as he realized his error in leaving her to enter the apartment on her own. His promise to stay up for her was broken, and all he could do was answer the phone and apologize.

_ How long before I step out? _ Sophie considered. She wouldn’t be cruel––she’d hear his reason for jilting her in their own office first, before digging the knives in. But what would he do as he spoke to her? How far away did he think she still was? What would cause him to break a simple promise like that, to her?

“Ms. Devereaux, I presume.”

Sophie had to hold her breath at this additional voice––she’d stepped further back, but as he talked, she recognized the patronizing cadence instantly.

“Ah…” Nate grumbled. “I said I’d be here when she got back.”

“She should be back by now.” 

“Something’s gone wrong,” Nate said, a tinge of fear beginning to creep into his tone. “How is it 2am already?”

“Time flies when you’re having fun,” chuckled the other voice.

Nate turned, allowing Sophie to see his face clearly for the first time since his descent. His scowl was the same as ever––though his hair seemed wilder, more unkempt. Like he’d been running, working up a sweat. 

“I’ve got to call her back,” Nate said, taking a few steps in the direction of Sophie’s hiding place. She held her breath, held out hope that he would stop.

“What’s the danger?” came the other voice, growing closer as it descended the spiral staircase. “You said she’s on nothing but a simple scouting mission, right? What trouble could he get into on a scouting mission?”

_ Simple? _ Sophie asked, incredulous.  _ You try tracking a man who doesn’t own a cell phone. _

“There’s always a reason,” Nate said, turning to face the source of the voice. “I’ve had grifters kidnapped before. She needs my backup.”

“She’s not the only one,” came the voice, preceding a longer period of silence. Sophie dared not look around the corner for a better view, but kept her back pressed up against the wall, hoping neither Nate or his guest would think to look away from each other. All she could hear, then, was the sound of Nate’s deep, contemplative breathing. 

“We can’t keep doing this, you know,” he finally said.

“On the contrary, Nathan,” came the response. “Why would this be the moment to stop? We’ve only just rekindled what was lost.”

“Because I have a team to manage, now, Sterling,” said Nate. “I’m not a lone wolf anymore. You can’t show up unannounced. You’re lucky no one from the team was working late tonight.”

“Oh, don’t act so high and mighty,” said Sterling. Sophie heard his footsteps walk across the room, towards the kitchen. She hugged the wall tighter––if he looked to the side, Sterling might just be able to make our her features in the dark. “You act as though I forced you into something you didn’t want,” Sterling added. 

“What I wanted is not the point,” Nate replied. “I have a job.  _ You _ have a job.”

“You have a target, not a job.” The cupboard opened and a glass bottle thudded on the surface of the counter. With the pop of a stopper and a splash of liquid, Sophie guessed at the drink Sterling had helped himself to. Scotch? He usually took it on the rocks, and no ice could be heard.

“We are helping people,” Nate defended.

“So am I. Unless you have an issue with the mission of INTERPOL, I don’t think you’d disagree.”

“You and I both know that what you’re doing now has nothing to do with INTERPOL.”

“What I’m doing now?” Sterling repeated, walking back to Nate. 

“The Daedalus Code,” Nate said. “Your current pet project.”

Sterling must have leaned in to Nate’s face, for Sophie could just barely make out the voice across the silence of the office.

_ “You’re _ my pet project, right now,” Sterling cooed.

Nate sighed––a rough exhalation, to change the subject––before adding “you could at least put a towel on.”

Sophie blushed.

“It’s nothing you haven’t seen,” said Sterling. Footsteps carried him to the staircase. “I should be going, though. Long day ahead of me tomorrow, chasing you down.”

The staircase creaked as Sterling walked back to the bedroom––but Nate’s voice stopped him only a few steps up.

“How do you see this continuing?” asked Nate. “What, we keep finding time for each other? We keep this a secret from everyone else?”

“It’s how we did it before.”

“You can’t repeat the past, Sterling.”

“Can’t repeat the past?” said Sterling. This was one of Sophie’s least favorite tricks of his––simply repeating the same phrase back, in a shocked tone. “Do you expect me to finish the quote, Nathan? To say that ‘of course you can?’ Old sport?”

Silence fell between the two of them.

“I have no interest in repeating the past,” Sterling finally spoke. “I prefer to think of it as...building a future.”

With that, the stairs creaked, and in a few moments the office was again silent. 

Sophie still held her breath. Only when Nate followed Sterling up to the bedroom would she be able to leave the office, and return in an hour as though nothing happened. She listened intently for Nate’s movements, though he seemed to be staying in once place. She was, at least, happy that he was not drinking––though she didn’t know who’d taken the tumbler off the shelf to begin with––

_ Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz. _

Her phone rang.

With a silent gasp, she made to shut it off, but in the silence of the late evening, the vibration could be heard all through the room. She waited, and waited, for what must have been only seconds but felt like eons, for Nate’s voice to finally come from around the corner.

“Sophie?”


End file.
